Addressing Critical Psychology Shortages – Supporting Provisional Psychologists to Practice

The Mental Health Program: Addressing Critical Psychology Shortages – Supporting Provisional Psychologists to Practice forms part of the Australian Government’s 2023-24 Budget commitment to build and support the mental health workforce by addressing acute bottlenecks in the psychology training pipeline.

The Government recognises the current bottlenecks in the psychology training pipeline and the impacts this has on workforce availability and service delivery. Strategies are needed to reduce attrition between the number of students commencing undergraduate psychology studies and those going on to practice. The grant program will support provisional psychologists to practice by increasing the availability of internships and increasing supervisor training.

There are two streams under this grant opportunity:

• Stream 1 - 5+1 Pathway Internships
• Stream 2 - Supervisor Training

Applicants can apply for one or both streams. If applying for both streams, applicants must apply under one application. Applicants should clearly identify which stream/s are included in their application.

The program objectives include:

• improving the mental health and wellbeing of all Australians, including a focus on suicide prevention.

The program outcomes include:

• working with states and territories to implement the National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement and associated bilateral schedules, and build and strengthen the mental health workforce through the National Mental Health Workforce Strategy.